Steve Bannon and US ultra-conservatives target Pope Francis

[pnwmom]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/steve-bannon-u-s-ultra-conservatives-take-aim-pope-francis-n991411?fbclid=IwAR1I7qnKIBWaD-WA03mJCsS2NZXNGBtPOdhAeSQQp41fjApciHrzlfWlnyE

The pontiff has expressed support for migrants and the poor, while warning against nationalism and unfettered capitalism.

“He’s the administrator of the church, and he’s also a politician,” said Bannon, a former adviser to President Donald Trump. “This is the problem. ... He’s constantly putting all the faults in the world on the populist nationalist movement.”

Since becoming pope in 2013, Francis has expressed a consistent message on the type of “America First” nationalism championed by Bannon.

Two years ago, the pope cautioned against growing populism in Europe, warning it could lead to the election of leaders like Hitler.

He has called for compassion toward migrants, saying that fearing them "makes us crazy," as well as other marginalized groups including the poor and gay people. He has also defended diversity.

SNIP

“If you’re an archbishop living in a big house with a big car and he says you need to have the smell of the sheep, that’s threatening,” Carr added. “He looks at the world from the bottom up and from the outside in. If you’re on top, if you’re an insider in the church, in the economy, in politics, he can threaten you.”

[zaj]

1. We have to stop pretending this is a bunch of bumbling fools...

... just because Trump is one.

Bannon, Putin, McConnell, and the rest are working to create a regressive authoritarian new world order. And they are strategic, coordinated and dangerously smart.

[Eyeball_Kid]

2. Yup. n/t

[Initech]

7. Oh they are evil incarnate.

Working with them is a mistake. We should be working to annihilate them after the way they stole our election and bullied us into oblivion. Fuck these fucking assholes.

[walkingman]

3. These nuts are redefining religion to fit their model of nastiness. However, after seeing the

embrace of Trump by the white evangelical brethren there is little doubt that something is definitely wacky in the religious community. However, this sounds more like a effort to legitimize the right-wing than a religious movement.

Hell, who knows these days?? We've got some crazy shit going on. Where is the Kool-aid to hand out to these nutjobs.

[pnwmom]

4. There isn't one overarching "religious community." Catholics are divided, Jews are divided,

Protestant Christians are divided, and Muslims are divided. (And every other religious group.)

But most evangelical Protestants are strong Trump supporters.

[walkingman]

9. Aren't most Blacks evangelical Protestants?? I don't know but I do know that most White Evangelicals

think that Trump is the second coming of Christ.

[pnwmom]

11. Probably. And they might be why almost ALL evangelicals aren't Trump supporters. n/t

[guillaumeb]

5. The "populist nationalist movement"?

Is that the code phrase for fascists?

[UniteFightBack]

6. I still don't think "targeting" the Pope is a great strategy. Regardless, people still like the guy

I even like him, and I'm an Atheist.

[peggysue2]

8. Bannon and other conservatives are trying to weaponize these issues, be it . . .

immigration, inequality and the poor, the ongoing pedophile scandal within the church in attempt to bring Pope Francis down. Why? Because the Pope is enormously popular and respected in most parts of the world and has spoken against the growing threat of nationalist movements which divide rather than unite. Together with his criticisms of populism and his genuine empathy for the displaced, he's the enemy of the Bannon's of the world. Who, btw, wouldn't know Christianity if they fell over it. Or, you could argue, they do know it and want badly to rebrand it in their own image.

Bannon and his ilk are a pox on humanity.

[Hassler]

10. Maybe Francis can offer to use the rack on divorced Catholic

Boozehound Bannon.

[Volaris]

13. Boozehound is forgivable. Bannon strikes me as a GinDrunk.

[Volaris]

12. Francis sneaks out of the Vatican at night to feed homeless people in Rome,

and goes to women's shelters to wash the feet of the residents.
This is a man who survived the Dirty Wars in Argentina.

He's BatPope lol.

And fucking with him is probably a BAD IDEA, STEVE.

[no_hypocrisy]

14. And his former boss DJT thinks he's the Pope.